Reviews with content warning for Child death - Siege and Storm

This book focused a lot on Alina and Nikolai building up defenses against the Darkling. I think I almost liked it more that the first book. It ended on such a Cliffhanger though ;^;.
Sometimes this book is a bit week from a storytelling perspective, but the characters definitely make up for it!!! Alina, David, Genya, Nikolai, Tolya, Tamar, Zoya - literal PERFECTION!!!!

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david_slack110507's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is much better than the first one in my opinion yet I feel unable to give it a 4-star rating. I feel like it's closer to a 3.5 or 3.75 rounded down but I may bump it up after I let my thoughts ruminate on it.

I found that this book was much more gripping that the previous one which very much felt like the first book in a trilogy (Not a bad thing but it definitely had that feeling) whereas while the long chapters remain in this one (And I'm assuming in all of Leigh Bardugo's work) I found it much easier and enjoyable to get through as well as it taking me less time. I liked a lot of the new characters the obvious being Nikolai who I feel brought a lot of charm to the novel and his back and forth with Alina was probably one of my favourite parts of the novel. Speaking of Alina, this time around while she still doubts herself and has her insecurities she felt a lot more involved in the action and getting to see her utilise the Cut and her power was nice to see throughout the novel.

I also really liked that we got to see more of the military-type operation and world of the Grishaverse/Ravka and Alina coming into control of the Second Army was really cool to see as it was a nice change of pace to have her decide to fight back against the Darkling (As briefly mentioned above). Tolya and Tamar were also a pretty good addition to the ensemble of characters even if they don't get a lot of backstory or much to do besides protecting Alina.

I can definitely see how some may not like this book as like how I feel with the first book feeling like the first book in a trilogy the same could be said for this one which can definitely feel like the second book and middle-point in a trilogy with its main goal being to set up the 3rd book/conclusion and filling out the rest of time with character dramas and a larger focus on dialogue and development that action (E.g the main real conflicts only come at the beginning and the end and The Darkling remains out of the picture for nearly all of the book aside from the final confrontation and appearing physically to Alina throughout after her nichevo'ya bite)

Overall, I might have the unpopular opinion that I preferred this book to the first and found it to be much more engaging (Perhaps due to the first book having set up everything that the second book could easily and comfortably ease back into the world). I'm planning on trying to finish this series as soon as possible rather than taking a couple of months break in between like I did with this book and the first.

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prettynerdy3's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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rose_88's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Didn’t like this one as much as the first. I loved all the new characters and how they felt with the aftermath of the fist book, but I felt that it went way too fast, with very little descriptions of what they were doing, especially near the end, and it was more like ‘they did this and then they did this.’ Like they were rushing to get to the final battle, very repetitive of the first book where they sped through a lot of action and events to get to the final confrontation.

I really liked Mal in the fist book, but I didn’t like how he handles things in this one. I understand that he felt out of place in the Little Palace, but he was very dramatic about it and didn’t even try to talk to Alina till his rage had boiled over.

I really liked everything in the beginning on the True Sea and the ships, I really wish there had been more about Nikolai’s crew. Speaking of the crew, I really liked Tolya and Tamar, their beliefs about Alina being a Saint came out of no where for me, looking back I can see the snippets of it littered thoughout.

I ADORED Nikolai, and I thought he would have been a much better King than his brother, and was super confused as to how he would become king (I don’t know if he actually does but I hope so) and his brother’s death was just horrifying. Basically all the death and destruction from when the Darkling attacked the Palace was horrible and WTF it was mental.

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